Archive for ‘Activism’

  |   Newer Entries »
February 5, 2012

Holes, walls and bricks: Palestine with Israeli eyes

Micheal builds Palestine

Micheal building Palestine

Michael is a true cosmopolitan Israeli citizen. I’ve met him the day I arrived in Tel Aviv, he asked me what was I doing and when I showed him the LEGO bricks he asked me to be interviewed. I returned to Tel Aviv to meet him. I’ve found him on a very bad day, yet he engaged with the bricks. The first question was about Israel and we had a long and intense conversation about it. Then it was the turn of Palestine. ‘What is Palestine?’ I ask him. He doesn’t say a word, he has understood the process, he doesn’t ask, he builds.

Palestine and the hole in the centre

Palestine and the hole in the centre

As soon as he finished with LEGO I ask him to tell me about it. He stares at the bricks for a while, thinking. ‘You see… It doesn’t have a bottom. It’s not based on anything – he says by showing me the hole and the lack of any base – because they haven’t succeeded in creating a State; they have a State now but it’s not solid. Also all these Arab countries, in all these more than 60 years… All the Arab countries crying Oh Palestine!‘ – he grows acrimonious – ‘but ask them to do something for them! They didn’t do anything for them. Nothing! Palestinians know that, Arabs like Syrians, Lebanese, use Palestine as propaganda at the UN and in Europe. But they don’t help them. Arafat… Europe sent 900 million euros to Palestine to help them, they could have done a lot with that but Arafat put that money in his pocket and now his wife is pampering around Tunis or wherever…’

[Read more]

Posted in Activism, Israel and Palestine, Journalism | 2 Comments »

Tags: , , , ,
January 21, 2012

This Crazy Thing Called Palestine

Aysar from Dheisheh Refugee Camp

Aysar from Dheisheh Refugee Camp

Aysar is a young volunteer at Dheisheh Refugee Camp. He was born and grown up there and he studied at Bethlehem University. While introducing himself, he says he believes in some crazy ideas, and I am curious to learn more about them. When I show him the bricks, he is surprised: ‘You remind me about Parmenides… – he says and soon after he admits – ‘I’ve never played with this game…’ I let him play around with the LEGO bricks and then get straight into the question: What is Palestine? ‘What it should be or what it is?’ he asks. I repeat my question, those simple 3 words: What is Palestine. I am not giving him any clue, I want to see what Palestine is for him. The less I say, the more he’ll tell me. He is puzzled, he starts talking but I stop him and ask him to build me his answer ‘We’ll talk after…’ I reassure him. He starts building – he takes the bricks on and off, smokes and builds. After a while he is finished: he spreads all the left bricks around the model ‘Leave them’ he says ‘They are part of it’. ‘So this is Palestine… tell me something about your model’ I ask him. [Read more]

Posted in Activism, Israel and Palestine, Journalism | 4 Comments »

Tags: , , , , ,
January 12, 2012

The unbearable lightness of bricks: the Israeli hazard

JK building his model

JK building his model

JK is an experienced business consultant from Israel. He is curious about this LegoView thing. I don’t waste too much time and get straight into the issue. What is Israel? – I ask him. He looks at me and at the bricks. ‘The question is tough!’ he says still puzzled, trying to make his mind while starting building his model.

JK's model of Israel

JK's model of Israel

“Israel, as you can see, has a lots of parts within it… We have the sea, which is the blue part, we have the desert, which is the yellow, and we have the green, which is the forest and the wildlife and a flower here, and the orange is some colourful nature parts. We have our urban landscape and houses, which are the grey and the black bricks. You see – he shows me immediately – the structure is not very stable… it’s linked to some hazardous parts, which is the orange and the red… – he says pointing me out the little red and orange structure which lies next to the end of his model: it’s attached yet separate.‘So what is that?’ I ask him. ‘This is the hazard part of our life – he says – and it’s a substantial part of our life because you see that if you move it, the whole structure falls… So. it’s linked to us, maybe it’s even holding us, but if you move it, there’s the risk that the whole structure would bend, maybe not collapse, but bend. And there’s a ladder – he says pointing at the grey brick – we have to consider to use it or not to use to actually connect these risks.’
[Read More]

Posted in Activism, Israel and Palestine, Journalism | 2 Comments »

Tags: , , ,
January 5, 2012

Israel and Palestine through the Looking-Bricks

My travelmates

My travelmates

I’ve spent 10 days traveling around Israel and Palestine. It was just me and my LEGO bricks, a pretty good company. I have met a lot of people, have talked to anyone, have tried to understand their world and the complex reality they live in.

I went there because I wanted to understand what the whole Israeli and Palestinian conflict was about: media all over the world constantly tell stories about what is going on, there are thousands of publications of all sorts and all parts. I was not able to make my mind, I wanted to explore such a complex reality and see what all that was about. And I wanted to do it my way, pushing the bricks further, trying to explore the reality Israeli and Palestinians experience every day. I was not interested in political talks or in the usual rhetoric speeches, I wanted to see the world these people experience with their eyes. I had no bias, since I could not embrace either of the extreme positions I had been reading about, and LEGO were a perfect mean – they offered me a method where my question could be neutral and unbiased, so that all the relevant issues would emerge spontaneously from the models interviewees would build.
[Read More]

Posted in Activism, Israel and Palestine, Journalism | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , ,
December 10, 2011

The Occupy movement: the light and fluid warrior

Ollie building his models with Lego

Ollie building his models with LEGO

As soon as we meet, Ollie, 23, proudly shows me his brand new DC motor for a bike generator. He’s excited about making his own energy and eager to start the LegoView experiment. I met Ollie the first time the Occupy movement had taken the streets in London, on October 15th. He was enthusiastic then and so he is today. Since his job contract ended, he is now free to occupy full time and contribute and support the movement. I show him the  LEGO bricks and he immediately starts building even before I ask him to do so. “I am building a house” he says. And he starts assembling the bricks. “It’s about homelessness” he tells me while making his model, “there are like 600,000 empty houses  in the UK that are liveable, which are not falling down or abandoned and there’s so many people who are homeless…. They’ve been trying to make squatting illegal for years now… and that’s how you have people sleeping in the rain every night and houses which are completely empty… it’s just stupid…” He comments while playing with the bricks.
[Read More]

Posted in Activism, Journalism, Occupy | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , ,
November 30, 2011

Goodbye yellow brick road

I’ve decided to apply the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY  methodology to journalistic interviews and chose to explore and learn more about OccupyLSX through the use of LEGO . I have been around St. Paul’s camp looking for someone to involve in my experiment. And that’s when I’ve met Helen.

She is 17, she is studying textile, “I still go to the college from here in the morning, which is difficult because it’s freezing and it’s too cold to get up. It’s not nice.” she says with a smile.

I ask Helen to build me the first model, to let her familiarize with LEGO.

She looks at me and then she picks up the LEGO bricks and starts building something. When she has finished, I ask her to describe me what has she has built: “It’s a rainbow colour tower and it’s thin in the middle because it’s gonna collapse and it’s not like stable. It’s quite odd, I don’t know… And the flower on the top represent all of mankind, it’s kind of victorious.”

The tower has a thinner part, I investigate more and question Helen about that.Helen's tower model

“Because it’s quite unstable, it’s not necessarily like a tower… it’s much like the world at the moment, it’s very unstable, it’s very unsustainable….”

She is smiling and is getting engaged with the LEGO, I ask her to build a model of the world as she sees it.

It takes some time, she puts the bricks together and when she is done, she starts telling me the story of the world through her model.

[Read More]

Posted in Activism, Journalism, Occupy | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , ,
  |   Newer Entries »
%d bloggers like this: